Best Practices for Protecting Digital Information

As a business, it’s your responsibility to protect both your and your clients’ sensitive information. Having security practices in place for digital information is key to addressing your liabilities and operating responsibly. While risks and data leaks can’t always be prevented, there are several ways to prepare and attempt to prevent these situations from becoming an eventuality.   

What follows are things that many security experts recommend as “best practices” when comes to electronic data protection. 

– Secure your office’s wireless network and encourage employees that work out of the office or even at home to use secure, password-protected networks. Password protection and careful selection of whitelisted IP addresses are key to this step. This can be one of the most important but simplistic steps of the process, so it should be something that is already (hopefully) in place.

– Ensure your business is EMV chip card capable. The relatively recent, widespread switch to businesses focusing on this secure payment method is meant to reduce the fraud that is so common for debit and credit cards. The United States, in particular, has been especially susceptible to this type of fraud, which has been both more common and costly than it has in other countries. 

– Use antivirus software and a firewall. Secure your business’ computers and other technology with more than one form of security blockade, including antivirus software, firewalls, passwords, and other methods of data protection. Keep all personal or sensitive information behind these blockades, to dissuade or prevent any external parties from gaining access.

– On top of antivirus software and firewalls, ensure all company technology stays current with updates. Updating frequently helps to ensure security and maintain easy access to files and device operation as a whole. 

– Backup all important company and client data. This data should be protected not only from those seeking the information but from possible loss as well. Whether brought on by technological issues beyond human control or as a part of a larger cyber attack, data loss or corruption can mean crucial damage to you and your clients. Keep frequent backups of this information, whether on other systems or types of external drives, to best protect it. Just make sure that these backups are also secured by multiple blockades.

– Be wary of Bring-Your-Own-Device office practices. A 2016 Statista study conducted by questioning IT security professionals revealed that mobile devices, such as smartphones, were considered the biggest security threat by 86 percent of the respondents. While this is unavoidable or inconvenient for many workplaces, there are steps you can take to avoid information leaks or corruption over smartphones and other personal devices. Informing your employees about device and internet safety, protecting company information and emails through passwords, and other such efforts can all be helpful ways to prevent leaks.

– Limit employee access to crucial or sensitive information. Protect your network with passwords and restrict access to information so that only employees in need of the most crucial data can access it. The fewer people this information is accessible to, the more secure it often is. To achieve this, consider more levels of technical security beyond your normal workplace levels– for instance, administrator accounts and department-restricted access.

– Share files as PDFs and consider password protecting them. PDFs are known to be one of the most secure file types passed between emails or across workplace systems, and password-securing them can help to ensure that no unintended parties can view the information within. 

While this list is by no means exhaustive, it abides by common precedents and each step should help you form an information security strategy for your business. Since information can be one of your and your clients’ most valuable possessions, doing your utmost to protect it and addressing your liability in the case of a data breach are responsible steps to take as you conduct your business operations. 

The information presented here is for general educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.